Topical issues

NEW REPORT: Information management is a crucial part of policing, yet too often it is regarded as a low priority by forces; now a new report from Policing Insight highlights the risks of underestimating the vital role the function plays, the challenges in changing culture and technology, and the opportunities of leveraging significant policing outcomes from well-managed data, as James Sweetland explains.

ANALYSIS: Last month the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including violence prevention, mental health, and policing marginalised communities; in the second in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on harm reduction programmes and policing partnerships in countries from Kenya and Kyrgyzstan to Scotland and South Africa.

FEATURE: Following a string of scandals and tough inspection reports, there have been near-constant demands for policing in England and Wales to reform; at the recent Canterbury Centre for Policing Research annual conference, three academics presented their blueprints for making change a reality – from new powers to intervene in failing forces, to adopting UN standards, and creating a new ‘police reserve’ – as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

INTERVIEW: After 41 years in policing – the past four as Commissioner of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force – Trevor Botting retired recently, although admits he may have not hung up his uniform altogether; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the challenges leading an island force in the West Indies, the need to nurture local recruits, and why the force’s firearms officers are among the bravest he has worked with.

INTERVIEW: Police personnel and their families continue to be at risk from online hate and harmful threats; Professor Petra Bayerl from the Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence & Organised Crime Research (CENTRIC), explained to Policing Insight how a ground-breaking project with six police forces is seeking to better understand the challenges, risks and harms police officers and their families face when online.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The all-too-common challenge of working within a modern policing environment: mountains of data from databases are disconnected and siloed. Users have to search through dozens of systems and conduct disconnected crime analysis, manually uncovering key linkages between entities. At the vanguard of policing technology, a growing graph-structured data model called a knowledge graph is proving invaluable.

FEATURE: Initial findings from the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue investigation into activism and impartiality, revealed in an interim update from HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke, highlight striking concerns about politicisation, with most senior officers saying they’ve experienced “improper pressure or interference from significant political figures”, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: This month saw the launch of a new UK Code of Ethics by the College of Policing; but former officer and now author and University of Central Lancashire Policing Lecturer Derek Flint believes the revised code is so lengthy and wide ranging that the core messages may well be lost, while also providing barristers or IOPC investigators with a means by which to trip up staff and officers who are trying their level best.

FEATURE: Serving and former UK police officers are working with academics and students to provide support for policing in Ukraine, in a bid to prepare the country for the possible influx on corruption when work eventually begins to rebuild the nation post-conflict, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Research in Kenya and more widely across Africa has highlighted low public trust in police and a prevailing perception of corruption, and that lack of trust in Kenyan police has been expressed more keenly by those living in urban areas; Professors Kristine Höglund and Emma Elfversson of Uppsala University explore the reasons for the differences between urban and rural communities, the implications for police reform, and what can be done to address the issue.

FEATURE: A new Home Office-funded project from the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research (CCPR) explores the experiences of those tackling violence against women and girls in Kent’s night-time economy; it finds that police feel “understaffed and stretched”, with concerns about the safety of ‘single-crewed’ officers at night and mixed relationships with essential local security staff, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: This month the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including violence prevention, mental health, and policing marginalised communities; in the first in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on diversion, defection and referral programmes, including examples from the UK, US, South Africa, Italy, Vietnam, Belarus and Ukraine.

FEATURE: Polygraphs – or lie detector tests – are considered by some to be the preserve of fictional cop shows; but at the recent Canterbury Centre for Policing Research’s annual conference, two Northumbria University academics explained how these scientifically unsound tools are becoming more commonplace in British policing, seemingly with little debate or openness about their use, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

INNOVATION: With many forces around the world looking to enhance their intelligence analysis systems as part of the fight against crime, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to New Zealand Police Director of National Intelligence Dan Wildy about the force’s success in adapting and improving their existing systems to deliver results, rather than investing too heavily in new and unproven technology.

OPINION: After several years of declining road deaths in pursuit of Vision Zero, road fatalities in Australia in 2023 reached levels not seen in nearly a decade; Senior Lecturer Dr Milad Haghani of UNSW Sydney believes that more focused and tailored safety campaigns together with closer monitoring of the community road safety climate can help to get Australia back on track.

ANALYSIS: With terrorists increasingly using sophisticated tools and technologies to spread hate via online platforms, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in countering such activities has become ever more important; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores the latest report from researchers at Dublin City University and Swansea University, focusing on AI and machine learning to identify terrorist content online.

FEATURE: The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has claimed the force faces an “unprecedented retention crisis” after exit interviews of Gardaí highlighted unfair treatment by management, low morale and lack of support as reasons for leaving the force; but An Garda Síochána says resignation levels are “far below” those of UK forces, with “historically high numbers of extensions and promotions” demonstrating a high level of commitment by officers, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Retail staff have increasingly been subjected to violence and abuse, partly as a result of the growth in shoplifting, prompting calls from the industry and unions for a new offence of assaulting a shop worker; but Penelope Gibbs, Director of campaign group Transform Justice, warns that the a move would do nothing to reduce the number of attacks, suggesting that a better police response to such assaults and perpetrators dealt with out of court where possible would be much more effective.

FEATURE: Delivering the keynote address at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research’s annual conference, Kent Chief Constable Tim Smith identified the problems facing policing at a national and local level – including concerns about politicisation, funding challenges, and a highly inexperienced workforce post-Uplift, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: Police in England and Wales have the power to warn someone when they know their partner poses a real risk of danger under what is known as Clare’s Law, but the level of disclosures varies hugely between forces; research by University of Essex Criminology and Ethics Lecturer Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou suggests that lack of resources, data sharing concerns and cultural resistance within policing all contribute to the problem.

ANALYSIS: With law enforcement in many democracies focusing on the need to develop a policing culture committed to society’s ethical values, the issue of moral injury – when an officer experiences psychological distress arising from actions (or a lack of action) that violates their own moral code – has come to the fore; Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood, a former Toronto Police officer and now part-time professor, explores the concept of moral injury, it’s impact on officers and communities, and what can be done to address the issue.

FEATURE: The latest survey of police wellbeing in England and Wales, coupled with a report comparing research from other staff associations, inspectorates and other bodies, has highlighted significant increases in stress and anxiety and a decline in feeling valued among officers which could also impact on service delivery; but forces that have acknowledged and prioritised wellbeing issues have seen a much more positive trajectory for officers and staff, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: The fall in public trust and confidence has become an issue for policing in many jurisdictions, and recent research in Canada suggests the country’s law enforcement agencies have work to do; Vernon White, former Chief of Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, explore the findings from the most recent surveys, and the efforts being made by a number of forces to rebuild public trust.

FEATURE: University of Tasmania Professor of Criminology Rob White has warned that police officers are currently ill-equipped to deal with the demands of climate change and its associated crimes, and will face exhaustion and extended trauma unless operational approaches are significantly overhauled and more extensive collaborations with other agencies are introduced, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.